1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to display processes and devices generally, and more particularly, to portable kiosks generating a variable visible display while accepting and responding to inquiries from viewers.
2. Background Art
The convention and trade-show industry has grown substantially over the past three decades, with municipalities each constructing large exhibition halls and competing to host several conventions and shows every year. Generally, contemporary designs for convention and trade-show booths seek to present visual displays endowed with sufficient aesthetic quality to appear as exhibits able to attract substantial customer traffic during the course of the show. The architectural components of the booths and their visual displays require substantial time for unpacking, erection and electrical wiring prior to the scheduled opening of the show, with a similar requirement of time and labor for a knockdown of the visual display by disassembly, packing and crating at the end of the show, in preparation for an expedited shipment to the site of the next show. Concomitantly, contractual requirements with municipally owned and urban located exhibition halls and centers invariably require the use of various trade crafts, including locally hired carpenters, electricians, riggers and laborers, often at union wage scale, frequently with overtime and week-end wage differentials, to complete the erection of the display. With the knock-down at the end of each show, the shock sensitive electrical equipment, including audio-visual units, computers, monitors and keyboards, must be removed from the architectural components of the display and separately packed in specialized shipping containers.
Not infrequently, exhibitions and trade shows are scheduled on a circuit, with the closing of an exhibition in one city followed in one or two days, by the opening of a trade show in a different city that is not infrequently, located in a different area of the country. Traditionally, transportation of trade show exhibits is arranged either by contract or specialized haulers, typically using trailer trucks, a source of additional cost as well as delay in re-erection of the exhibit at the next trade show.